Various fingerprint recognition devices have been used for commercial and military applications. Many of such conventional fingerprint recognition devices focus on matching patterns of a captured fingerprint to an existing database of fingerprint samples. If a match is found, the fingerprint is deemed to be valid, but if a match is not found, the fingerprint is deemed to be invalid.
Applications developed for mobile devices and platforms usually require secure electronic transactions, and fingerprint recognition is starting to play an important role for making such transactions more secure as well as convenient. One of the drawbacks of using conventional fingerprint recognition devices for mobile applications is that their physical form factor is not suitable for mobile devices and mobile platforms. Either the device must be attached to the mobile device or embedded within the device. Conventional optical fingerprint acquisition devices can be bulky and it can be challenging to seamlessly integrate with mobile devices.
Therefore, it is desirable to have methods and apparatus for capturing images of a fingerprint that can address the above issues of conventional fingerprint recognition devices.